Part of me can fully understand why this might be true but another part asks the question of “if buying beer is hard then how is buying beer ingredients any easier?”
Will that ingredient access is difficult that could offset the cost savings of brewing your own? Also, in my opinion, quality has risen, so brewing a Belgian Wit could be cheaper but if Allagash White is around, why do it. You might have to wait in a line at Trader Joe’s but that pales in comparison to trying to emulate that beer or an IPA from El Segundo or a dark mild that matches Eagle Rock’s Solidarity.
Maybe price will win out and it will be interesting to see if it continues because if breweries close, a new generation of aspirational home brewers will be needed.